Mea Culpa

In my zeal to get my message out, while dishing back to the other side as good as they dish to us, I admit that I sometimes say and write things that are insensitive, even hurtful. Teasing the executive director of the Republican Governors Association about his obvious drinking problem…? That showed a regrettable lack of compassion and maturity. Accusing a sitting state senator of fucking pigs…? Impolite, at the very least.

And after reading the many thoughtful and compelling comments in the threads on several of my recent posts, I now realize that I’ve committed yet another lamentable error in judgment.

When the state Dems released their recent web video highlighting the disturbing connection between Dino Rossi and his pals at the BIAW—an organization that equates stormwater regulations with Nazi death camps—I enthusiastically posted it here at HA. It was pointed, well paced, and featured a catchy tune; all in all a nicely produced piece of work. So when the Italian Club of Seattle issued a letter condemning its use of the theme song to The Sopranos as offensive and anti-Italian, I admit I reacted defensively.

I hadn’t recognized the music, and to be honest, had listened to so many Rossi stump speeches in which he dwelled on his Tlingit heritage that I’d almost forgotten he was Italian. I just figured the complaint was political posturing, so even when the state Dems edited their video, replacing the music with something less… something, I defiantly reposted the original here. And here. And here.

But rather than listening to my own sense of outrage, I should have listened to that of my Italian friends, whose food I adore, whose culture I admire and whose love of democracy is so strong that they’ve elected nearly sixty governments in the sixty-two years since the end of World War II. After all, it’s not a question of whether I find the music offensive, but whether my Italian-American neighbors do. So if some pale-skinned guy named Brian tells me the use of a dance tune from a British “acid house” band inherently implies a connection between Italian-Tlingit-Americans and organized crime, who am I to disagree?

And so as a mea culpa, and a personal apology to Italian-Tlingit-Americans everywhere—but especially those in the Republican Party—I have taken it upon myself to remix the video on my own, inserting a hauntingly beautiful yet oddly appropriate piece of music I stumbled upon that couldn’t be further stylistically from the theme song to The Sopranos. Enjoy:

I’ve got to ask: I’ve never seen the show, but I know it is a big HBO hit (I don’t have HBO), and has won award after award, but why is it that I haven’t heard about any outrage about the show? I’m sure if there was any issue about people feeling the show was (let’s use the term some have been using) “racist” or a negative stereotype I’d have heard about it.

If you idiots put 1/2 the energy into solving the transportation dilemna that you put into ways to be offended….the morning commute from Bellevue to Seattle would be 10 minutes. Have you noticed lately that the frequency of folks getting all riled up and offended has been escalating. It takes alot of work & energy to find ways to be offended ourselves…or as you KLOWNS as prone to do…feel offended for others.

Jesus, Dan. Considering you’ve never seen the show, why am I not surprised that you would not have heard about the backlash against it by Italian Americans? There WAS a lot of news about that sort of thing- back in the show’s earlier seasons. You would have heard about it back in ’99 thru ’01. After that, no one gave a shit.

You’re a regular collector of cultural touchtones, aren’t you? ;)

If you ever want me to explain “Where’s The Beef”, “Don’t Squeeze The Charmin” or the ending of Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back, just let me know.

Great idea Goldy. The morons on the right are just too fucking stupid to realize that what you’ve managed to do here is keep the video – an important one showing how crooked Rossi is – in the public eye for another day. Brilliant. And the retarded right just keeps on stepping into it! Gotta love it.

So Dino Rossi is HEAVILY in hock the the Building Industry Association of Washingotn. So what else is new? He can’t raise money on his own, so he needs them. Of course, he question we all must aask ourlselves is, how will he be required to repay their millions in the unlikely event he is elected? God and the BIAW only know, but rest assured they WILL get to “dip their beaks.” Dino can’t tell us because of omerta.

Chris Gregoire is running on a record of thirty years of solid achievement while all Dino has done is give Lou Guzzo a job spouting cantankerous nonsense. Our choice is clear, all right.

Awwww….Rev. Kirbyjon Caldwell, the Methodist minister who officiated at the wedding of Jenna Bush and Henry Hager, has launched a new pro-Obama Web site, JamesDobsonDoesntSpeakForMe.com. Caldwell is now reaching out to religious voters on Obama’s behalf and could be considered part of the aggressive evangelical outreach being done by the Obama camp.

Like Dan, I’ve never seen the show. But I sure heard a lot about it from Rush Limbaugh. He loved the show and spent a fair amount of time talking about it. That right there was enough for me to keep my distance. So when I watched the ad, I had no clue about the association. For that matter, I didn’t even realize Dino was Italian. Nor did I realize Italian was a racial category. But then I don’t pay a lot of attention to Dino either.

Now that all this has been explained to me, I can see why all Italian Americans are deeply offended at being associated with Dino Rossi and his band of thugs at the BIAW.

And for you Goldie, a whack on the pee pee and two more hours of sensitivity training.

Will @5 – Well there you are. I also had no idea the show was that old. But you make my point – there has been no outrage about this show in years, so this manufactured indignation is artificial and contrived.

BTW, I do remember the “Where’s the Beef” thing. They should have given that little old lady a show of her own – lord knows they’d be an audience for it, and a group finding offense, as always.

I don’t get it. Why are the GOPers in this thread offended by this remix? I’m not sure what the name of the piece is, or where it comes from, but it’s a beautiful melody that I find as haunting as Rossi must find his narrow loss in the 2004 gubernatorial race.

But surely, this particular tune has nothing to do with Italians or organized crime. So what’s the problem?

We’ve run most of the retarded right off this board Goldy. They cut and run. They’re cowards. They’re over at UNSoundPolitics stroking each other’s cocks telling each other (no telling lies to each other) that everything will be okay.

If you and the other delusional HA happy hooligans think you have the power to “run” even an ant off a moehill, then obviously your ignorance is alive and well. How’s that McDonald’s gig workin’ out for ya? I for one love posting here and especially when it pisses off slimey little worms such as yourself. Thanks!

I’m not offended by it. I’m offended and disgusted by the fact that you liberals (and I consider myself to be a genuine liberal and progressive, with the two exceptions of believing that tagging should be a capital crime, and the homeless should be shipped to China to be put to work in sweat shops) are a bunch of hypocrites, and would be screaming “racism!” at the top of your lungs if the situation were reversed, as in the example I provided earlier of the McCain campaign scoring an anti-Obama ad with the Zippty Do Da song.

Gee, polls like that, and Obama hasn’t even started the general campaign yet? He’s still mending fences with the Clinton camp, working out who’s going to pay her campaign debt. But once that’s done, he should be able to hit McCain pretty hard.

Seems like the voters aren’t waiting for the politicians to catch up. They’ve already made up their mind. Barring an obvious mis-step by either candidate, Obama should win the national popular vote by 8% easily. What’s interesting is how broad that support is among so many states – it re-writes the electoral college math.

They have elections in Italy? I thought that rich rightwing guy who dumped his wife for a model was installed by a military coup. Well, elections don’t mean anything per se. They have “elections” in Zimbabwe, too.

I heard a “ChangePac” (i.e., BIAW) radio ad yesterday that accused Gregoire of vetoing $3 million for foster kids.

I haven’t fact-checked it, but given the Far Right’s proclivity for lying, I wouldn’t be a bit surprised if the ad is outright bullshit. In fact, I’ll be surprised if it isn’t. And if it isn’t, its claims are certainly taken out of context. The $3 million probably was embedded by the GOPers in bill language they knew Gregoire would veto.

The “ChangePac” ads don’t tell you to vote for Rossi. They simply tell you to vote Gregoire out of office, and offer you a reason to do it. But let’s think about this a second. If they want voters to replace Gregoire, who would the replacement be? Why, Dinosour, of course!

Let’s say Gregoire did veto $3 million for foster kids. So what? Dino kicked 40,000 poor kids off health care. Gregoire put 60,000 poor kids back on health care. So, if you follow the premise of the BIAW ad to it’s logical conclusion — that you should vote for the candidate who does the most for kids — it’s really an ad to re-elect Gregoire.

An article in the conservative business magazine Business Week says gas prices are being manipulated, just like Enron manipulated electricity rates! And the Bushies stand there and wink at you! Are you Republican assholes ready for $7 gas? I am!! I own oil stocks!! Why don’t you e-mail Dick Cheney’s office and thank him for $4.50 gas and tell him how much you’re looking forward to $7 gas? I’m sure he’ll appreciate it! He’s not a real popular guy these days, you see. His approval rating isn’t much better than Low Tax Looper’s, and second-hand cigaret smoke is way more popular than he is.

He misstated a fact. It should read:Are you Donkey assholes ready for $7 gas?

Your party agrees with sending US Greenbacks to Middle East nations while we could explore and drill domestically. Your party is against nuclear energy when your friends A La Frenchie are building them left and right all over France.

#26 The gov did veto monies to implement the Braam panel reccomendations regardign foster care. I’m not sure about the amount. I’m sure that Dino would do a great job in support of our state’s foster youth. I don’t really think he gives a rip. It’s just political BS..

31 – You don’t get it. The Republicans are running away from the word Republican because the numbers show most people can’t stand Republicans. The word Republican means war-mongering, corruption, ineptitude and failure in the majority of people’s minds.

They were doing it in 2006. The word Republican was being scrubbed from just about every congressional Republican politician’s website. Now it’s spread to the local level.

Well they can run but they can’t hide. I used to say “right winger” and “wingnut” out of deference to the few sane Republicans left. No more. That party was long ago hijacked by corrupt nutcases.

Until they start saying again, “I am a Republican”, like Pat Robertson did when he ran for President – I’m going to say it for them.

@35 “Honestly, I think Republican and GOP are interchangeable and the ruckus that’s been raised about it is much ado about nothing.”

Perhaps it’s not about what you think. Remember, they’re nuts, you’re not. These people have two characteristics we need to always be mindful of – codespeak and projection. I believe that it’s possible that a convergence of those, along with their grasp of their obvious unpopularity, could result in their ditching ‘Republican’ for ‘GOP’. It won’t work, but perhaps in their crazy view of things, it’s worth trying.

Anybody ever notice that trolls never mention the untapped leases and the existing capped wells? Of course, if they did, it’d be a little harder for them to make up shit about how everything is the Dem’s fault.

re 43: It’s not ‘Nuff said!’, moron. And what’s more, you know it. Blathering about ‘exploration’ and flailing about in an exploratory frenzy is just a diversion from the rerality that the U.S. does not have enough oil reserves to affect our problem.

We need alternative sources of energy — and we would have them by now if that retard Ronald Reagan had not shut down all the progress that had begun in the Carter administration.

Right Wing Blather is no substitute for reality.

You know, Wax, with resources becoming more and more scarce, the type of ignoramus you are and represent may become a rotting albatross that mankind can no longer afford to carry around its collective neck.

Folks. Puddy doesn’t care about finding real solutions to the problems we face. He only cares about pissing on Democrats, and he’s just too stupid to figure out that all he’s really doing is pissing up a rope.

I’m not so sure how committed Nancy Reagan is to the current crowd of clowns running the Republican Party. Didn’t her son Ronald Reagan Jr. speak to the Democratic National Convention back in 2004? And I don’t think her late husband supported drilling off the California coast, either as Governor or President.

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